Our Goals - Umbrella Factory - Background - Bamboo Umbrellas - Brand Manufacturer - Brelli Manufacturer - Bamboo Hand Fans - Fair Trade - Environment - International and Domestic - Production Capacity - Official Information

Chiang Mai Umbrellas™ Master Craft is owned and operated by Sunisa Umbrella Works in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

Sunisa Umbrella Workshop was established to manufacture and provide quality bamboo umbrellas while creating additional income to farming families through skilled employment in our rural area of northern Thailand.

Customers can purchase our umbrellas and hand fans at local retail outlets world-wide*. Importers, retailers, hotel, restaurant and café establishments, wedding planners and event planners purchase our bamboo umbrellas and hand fans factory-direct at manufacturer wholesale prices.

Our Goals

We

  • provide our customers with competitively priced quality products, as ordered, produced, customized, and shipped according to agreed deadlines; we provide service and product quality that encourages customers to return for repeat purchases;
  • provide people friendly, equitable and economically fair employment in the rural farming community; we pay at or above minimum wages and encourage team members to participate in social security's health and pension benefits; we adhere to the principles of fair trade;
  • use environmentally responsible materials and processes for our products; create little waste that is mostly biodegradable, and maintain low energy use;
  • train team members and suppliers for the requirements of providing quality services and producing quality products, including skills training and providing fair trade, process, product and business development support;
  • promote the fairly traded bamboo umbrella worldwide.

Umbrella Factory

Some customers, some of our fellow villagers, and even search engine queries, like to refer to our workshop as the "Umbrella Factory". This is of course correct, yet our hand manufacture does not at all look like a Modern Times factory production line! We're a professional workshop of skilled umbrella makers, working in teams. So, generally we prefer to stick with the term  "workshop" or "works".

We are located in the heartland of the Chiang Mai's historic umbrella manufacturing cluster which covers numerous villages in and around the district border areas of San Kamphaeng and Doi Saket. The cluster's many specialized umbrella parts and assembly workshops are spread over an area of about 15-20 square kilometers, while its colorful touristic center is located in Bo Sang village. The village is therefore often referred to as Bo Sang Umbrella Village. Sunisa Umbrella Works is located 3 km from Bo Sang village's main temple.

Background

Sunisa Umbrella Workshop has its roots in a small, private research workshop established in 2005 to further develop bamboo-based products and to coordinate various small manufacturers to produce larger orders that would otherwise be sourced elsewhere.

As the workshop expanded, it was officially formalized as Sunisa Umbrella Workshop with Sunisa Phetsana - the workshop's manager since 2005 - as its proprietor. It's customer service and quality assurance continue to be supported by Supaporn Pochuay of small business advisory firm and exporter JEDI International, Ltd., who established the original workshop. The main production lines are bamboo umbrellas that the area of Bo Sang is well known for, as well as bamboo hand fans, bamboo folding hats, and bamboo children's toys. We are also specialized in customizing and personalizing these products for weddings, social promotion and business promotion purposes.

In 2008 the workshop started on improving the structural design of the Brelli® brand umbrella together with its inventor, designer Pamela Zonsius of Pam & Co., New York. The following year the Brelli® went into regular production.

Thailand's 65% minimum wage increase of January 2013 over 18 months prior - in the middle of a global economic crisis - saw costs increase and sales of handmade products decline across the board. Many producers of handmade items lost buyers and stopped producing. Sunisa Umbrella Workshop underwent a temporary hibernation for a few months. We and our craftspeople consider ourselves fortunate to resume a good part of our main work at the end of 2013.

Bamboo Umbrellas

We mainly produce bamboo umbrellas, with the single exception of the market umbrella. We distinguish our production of bamboo umbrellas between two broad types, the various product lines of the more traditional Thai bamboo umbrella, and modern design bamboo umbrellas contracted by our clients, such as the Brelli®.

Traditional bamboo umbrellas have a long history in our area of the Bo Sang Umbrella Village, while our own production specializes in quality umbrellas produced specifically for export, including customer specified personalizations and customizations for promotional umbrellas and wedding umbrellas.

Our more traditional product lines comprise our branded Chiang Mai Classic™ Umbrellas. Locally these are also known as Bo Sang Umbrellas, internationally also as Thai Umbrellas and Oiled Umbrellas; we also produce Cotton Umbrellas, Canvas Umbrellas, handmade Mulberry Paper Umbrellas, Artificial Silk Umbrellas and fully waterproof Market Umbrellas.

Brand Manufacturer

In addition to our traditional bamboo umbrellas, we produce specialized, high quality bamboo umbrellas on behalf of internationally recognized brands, with various types of bamboo frames and cover materials. We also create, innovate, customize and produce other specialized bamboo products for our customers.

Brelli® Brand Manufacturer

Sunisa Umbrella Workshop is the exclusive manufacturer for the Brelli® line of umbrellas, on behalf of our client Pam & Co., New York. The Brelli® is a high quality bamboo umbrella with a strong, yet lightweight bamboo frame. Despite its elegant appearance, it withstands wind gusts of 60 km/h. Its cover is made of high-tech, patented transparent film with 99% UV (a/b/c) protection. If it is ever discarded, the bamboo degrades naturally, while the film is fully biodegradable within ten years in aerobic or anaerobic landfill conditions.

Bamboo Hand Fans

We also produce a full line of bamboo folding hand fans. Our hand fans closely complement umbrella production in materials and skills. The fan frames are made with the same type of bamboo as our traditional umbrellas, while paper and fabric for cover materials are similar, and can be matched. Our hand fans comprise Fabric Hand Fans, Mulberry Paper Fans, and Paper Fans in Batik Shapes.

Traditional, branded and otherwise specialized, proactive environmental and social responsibility is the guiding factor for all our products and production processes.

Environment

The products that we manufacture are geared to the criteria of environmental sustainability and preservation. Our foremost focus is on products made of bamboo such as bamboo umbrellas, bamboo hand fans, bamboo folding hats, bamboo candles and other bamboo products. Bamboo is a strong, local, natural, quickly renewable, sustainable material.

We use the natural bamboo. We do not use bamboo lamination, we do not use the high pressurization and the glues this would require. Unlike other umbrella makers, we do not use and will never use waterproofing that requires the use of chemicals such as PFASs, GenX or any other harmful substances. Our umbrellas do not contain plastics.

We planted a mixed tropical forest of 2,800 trees since 2006. It's safe to say that our trees have a CO₂ absorption of roughly 45 tons per year. With this amount, our own tree planting compensates the shipping footprint of all our products, with a lot positive impact to spare. 😃

The production processes for our bamboo umbrellas, bamboo hand fans, and other products are environmentally sound. We minimize waste and use low energy tools, equipment and lights. Since 2015 our web site runs on solar energy. Since 2017 we use an electric pick-up trike for nearby transport of components, parts and products. In 2019 we purchased a second-hand hybrid vehicle for needed trips to town. In 2022 we installed 2720 W of solar panels for use in daytime.

Fair Trade

Our craftspeople, including the workshop's management and customer service, are members of families in Thailand's financially less privileged rural rice-farming sector. These are farmers' mothers, fathers, wives, and adult sons and daughters, while farmers themselves perform skilled artisan work during off-season times to augment income.

We adhere to the principles of fair trade. Craftspeople receive a fair and decent price for goods produced under fair and decent conditions. Craftspeople are paid immediately upon completion of work, and when appropriate in advance. We adhere to minimum wage and social security laws, work-place safety, and ensure gender equality and child protection.  materials and processes used to make our products are environmentally responsible.

For details please see our > Fair Trade Policy. Let us know if you like to know more.

International and Domestic

Up to 2012 we focused strongly on international markets with sales through local exporters and foreign distributors. General economic malaise, stiff competition from China based AliBarber marketeers, and forced domestic cost increases encouraged us to rethink that (somewhat single-minded) focus.

Today, we are regaining our international markets, while about 40% of our sales are now domestic. We count the Thailand based Central Department Store Group, Jim Thompson brands, the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), major five-star hotel groups, and leading event planners to our customer base, together with retail shops, schools, and community based activity planners throughout the country.

Production Capacity

We produce FCL orders within about 6 to 8 weeks with prior lead time.    
We produce LCL orders (either FOB or CIF) on average within about 14-28 days.    
We produce small orders, usually without prior lead time, within about 7-14 days.

Official Information

Includes EU compliance details:

Web Site

Chiang Mai Umbrellas     
Master Craft - by Sunisa Umbrella Works    
www.chiangmaiumbrellas.com

Business and Address

Sunisa Umbrella Factory    
113 Moo 3 Mae Khue    
Doi Saket, Chiang Mai 50220    
Thailand

Proprietor

Ms Sunisa Phetsana - Artisan, Manager Sunisa Umbrella Works    
Legal Seat: Doi Saket District, Chiang Mai Province, Thailand    
City and Country of Origin: > Chiang Mai, in > Thailand (formerly known as Siam).

Customer Service

Ms Supaporn Pochuay    
- Artisan at Sunisa Umbrella Works    
- Customer Service at JEDI International, Ltd.

For your inquiry please use our > Contact page. For your visit, please make an appointment. We also provide you directions and a map.

* Please contact us if our umbrellas or hand fans are not available for purchase in your area.